Good morning! It’s Monday, October 16, 2023, and that is The Morning Shift, your day by day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from all over the world, in a single place. Here are the essential tales you want to know.
1st Gear: Shift Cut At Ford’s F-150 Lightning Plant
Despite asserting that gross sales of its EVs have been up by greater than 14 % within the third quarter of 2023, the variety of all-electric F-150 Lightning vehicles that the Blue Oval shifted between July and September was down by an enormous 45 %.
Now, a UAW memo shared by the Wall Street Journal reveals that Ford might minimize a shift on the plant that builds the all-electric F-150 as “sales for the Lightning have tanked.” The memo was shared by a UAW official in response to Ford’s announcement that it could minimize a shift from its lightning facility, affecting 700 jobs on the web site. The WSJ experiences:
A Ford spokeswoman declined to touch upon the opportunity of eliminating a shift on the facility on a longer-term foundation, and mentioned there are some shorter-term schedule adjustments as it really works via supply-chain disruptions and high quality checks.
The firm plans to quickly minimize one shift on account of these constraints, the spokeswoman mentioned. The shift change takes impact Monday and impacts about 700 jobs. It isn’t associated to the UAW strike at different factories. Ford declined to say how lengthy the change would final.
Interestingly, the attainable chopping of a shift on the web site follows its six-week closure over the summer season for enlargement. The enlargement of the Michigan EV plant, Ford mentioned, would enable it to “meet customer demand” for its EVs.
However, that enlargement got here as Ford started backtracking on a few of its EV targets. According to the WSJ, the corporate backtracked on a “previous goal to produce two million EVs by the end of 2026.” The firm additionally gave itself an additional 12 months to fulfill its goal of manufacturing 600,000 EVs per 12 months.
2nd Gear: Strikes Could Cost Ford And GM $500 Million
In strike information, a brand new report from Automotive News has discovered that industrial motion launched by the United Auto Workers again in September might value Ford and GM as a lot as $500 Million. In truth, that determine is rising every day for each automakers, with Ford projected to lose $44m and GM hemorrhaging $21m day by day the strike continues.
According to Automotive News, challenges like a discount in spending for the 2 firms, challenge delays, and the eventual payouts they could should make as soon as a contract is reached all imply that prices are mounting. Automotive News experiences:
Ford was hit laborious Oct. 11 when UAW President Shawn Fain ordered a walkout from Ford’s Kentucky Truck meeting plant, its most worthwhile single operation globally. Kentucky Truck generates $25 billion in income per 12 months — or $48,000 per minute, as Fain put it in a video tackle Friday.
After a senior Ford government mentioned the automaker had reached the restrict of what it might spend on a brand new union contract, Fain replied: “Go get the big checkbook. The one Ford uses when it wants to spend millions on company executives or Wall Street giveaways.”
As a results of the strike, GM has already projected that it will take a $200 million hit to its third-quarter earnings. The firm has additionally elevated its cost-cutting goal by greater than $1 billion via the top of 2024.
It gained’t be lengthy till we see the complete prices the strikes are having on GM and Ford. The two firms are poised to launch their newest monetary outcomes later this month, with GM reporting third-quarter outcomes on October 24 and Ford sharing its outcomes on October 26.
third Gear: Stellantis And Ford Lay Off 1,250 More Workers
In additional strike-related information, Ford and Stellantis have introduced one other spherical of layoffs that they’re blaming on the walkout. The two automakers will furlough a further 1,250 staff at websites impacted by the UAW walkout.
According to a brand new report from Reuters, Stellantis is inserting an additional 700 workers on non permanent layoffs, bringing its complete variety of furloughed staff as much as 1,340 workers. Ford, in the meantime, has added a further 550 staff to its tally of laid-off workers. Reuters experiences:
Ford mentioned that beginning on Monday will probably be shedding about 300 workers at an Ohio transmission plant and about 250 at 4 Michigan crops together with 12 in Chicago. In complete, Ford has laid off 2,480 workers because the strike started on Sept. 15.
At General Motors, the variety of furloughed staff has reached 2,300, bringing the overall variety of Big Three workers on non permanent layoffs to an eye-watering 6,120. In distinction, the UAW strike has seen 34,000 union staff stroll off the job, accounting for roughly 25 % of its members.
4th Gear: Ferrari Accepts Crypto Now, Apparently
Never an organization to overlook out on the newest expertise, Ferrari has introduced that it now accepts Bitcoin from anybody trying to purchase certainly one of its vehicles. Starting within the U.S., the Italian automaker will settle for bitcoin, ether and USDC on funds of its supercars, with plans to roll the scheme out to additional markets later.
According to a report from Endgadget, Ferrari will settle for cryptocurrency funds via processor BitPay. The fee system will launch within the U.S. first, the place apparently prospects have been “begging for” it. Europe will observe in 2024 and “other regions” will be part of the trigger later. Endgadget experiences:
There gained’t be any upcharges for these paying with crypto, Ferrari’s chief advertising and industrial officer Enrico Galliera advised Reuters, and BitPay will convert these funds to conventional foreign money on the time of the transaction to keep away from any problems with volatility. Galliera mentioned the transfer will assist the corporate attain “people who are not necessarily our clients but might afford a Ferrari.”
For anybody concerned about swapping some bitcoin for a Ferrari, at at the moment’s alternate fee you’ll want 8.3 bitcoin to be in a position to afford a Ferrari Roma and 17.9 cash when you’d slightly drive away in an SF90 Stradale.
Reverse: The Workingest Thing On Wheels
On The Radio: The Black Keys – “Little Black Submarines”
Source: jalopnik.com